Moving Forward
by SilverMoonGrimm
Summary: Set during the series finale. Jesse stops by Stars Hollows one last time, the day of Rory's graduation party. *Stars Hollow-centric*


*****SPOILERS FOR VERY LAST EPISODE! Read if you dare!**

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**Moving Forward**

by SilverMoonGrimm

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_January 16, 2012_

"Oh! What's Jess doing here?"

"What?" Rory snapped her head to look around the tented square. She spotted him standing near the street, almost in the rain.

"I may have invited him." Luke confessed. "He really does care about you, Rory."

Rory sighed. "I know. Well, I'd better say hi or be condemned to avoiding him the entire time." Despite this, she stayed standing where she was.

"Rory?"

"Right." She snapped out of her frozenness and walked over to the teenaged boy.

"Hello." She said to him.

"Hey."

The two stood awkwardly for a while.

"So."

"So."

"I heard about your job."

"Yeah?"

"The Obama campaign. Big story, huh?"

"Hopefully. So, how's Philly?"

"I'm not really in Philly anymore."

"Oh." Determined not to go back to an awkward silence, she asked, "Why not?"

"The place burned down and our insurance turned out not to be worth crap, so we split ways."

"Where are you now?"

"Nebraska."

"Oh. That's far. Did you come all the way here?" Rory suddenly felt embarrassed.

"No, I was in the neighborhood already. Harrisburg."

"Listen, I wanted to give you-" Jess began, at the same time Rory said, "Listen, I need to tell you-"

The laughed a bit. "You first." Rory told him.

"Sure. I, uh, brought you a gift." He passed her a large yellow envelope.

"Jesse! You didn't have to get me anything."

"It's not that impressive, but I figured it'd be useful. You know, since you're going to be traveling a lot.

Rory opened the envelope and pulled out a packet of paper.

"A map?"

"Open it." Jess looked around anxiously.

She did. It was a map of the United States, all major towns cities and roads marked. In different colored pens, though, the map was covered in all kinds of notes.

_Don't take this highway during Winter, ices over easily, _written on an interstate in Maine.

_Speeding trap here nine out of ten time, _he had written on a California road.

The _best apple pie in the country _was apparently in a small town in Missouri, and Mount Rushmore was _packed late July and early August because of Summer Breaks and Sturgis Bike Rally._

He had put a bright blue star over Stars Hollows and another one over a place in central Nebraska.

"That's my new place." He explained.

"Jess . . ."

"I was going to have all the people in Stars Hollows write something. Make it sort of sentimental, but no one here really likes me."

Rory smiled. "Jess . . ."

"And I doubt many of them have ever actually been out of the state, so I stopped by a friend's place to get most of this down since that would make it more practical."

"It's amazing. I love it." Jess rolled his eyes. "I'm serious! How did you know all this stuff?"

"I'm staying at a friend's place, and I work the bar to earn my stay. People come in there from all over the country."

"A bar?" Rory asked, disappointed.

"In the evenings. During the day I have a different job."

The graduate took a deep breathe. "Listen, I didn't really ever thank you."

"It's just a map."

"No! I mean, thank you for that too, but mainly, I guess, getting me back on track. That night you visited . . . with Logan . . . you sort of knocked some sense into me. And now! You haven't even asked about Logan!"

He shrugged. "You know what's best for yourself, Rory. I just pulled you away from the distractions."

"Still. That's more than anybody else was able to do."

Out of the corner of her eye, she could see Taylor swaggering up to the stage. He tapped the microphone, sending a horrible whine through the room. "I think that's my cue. Thank you Jess. I hope everything turns out good for you."

He gave a small smile. "There's my ride." He gestured vaguely in one direction. As if on cue an old-style black car honked its horn. "Good luck on your story. I know you're a great writer."

Rory opened her mouth to argue but Jess cut her off. "If you're ever in the area, drop by."

"You don't have an address on here."

"Ask for Ellen. They'll point you to the right place."

After a brief hug/handshake/high-five shuffle, they parted ways.

"Well, that was weird." Lorelei noted.

"A nice weird." Rory assured her.

"So what did he want this time?"

"Surprisingly, nothing. But he said that if I'm ever around central Nebraska, I should definitely stop by."

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". . . . preparing to birth you from our collective womb, fully gestated and nourished. And so we breathe deep, and, with these last, painful contractions . . ." Jess smirked to himself as he listened to Taylor's speech on his walk back to the 'pala.

"So? How'd it go?" Dean asked.

"Pretty good. We didn't end the conversation screaming if that's what you mean."

"I think Dean was hoping a different solution." Sam said, implying an end that may have also involved screaming, though of a different variety.

Jess rolled his eyes. "I heard something about a werewolf in Harrisburg?"

He slid into the back seat and started drying himself off, wondering if Rory would ever drop by the Roadhouse. He spent most of his time there now. This new life of his. Ash like to call him his protege or, to annoy him, MiniAsh.

Deans started blaring out some Metallica song Jess was sure the Gilmores would know the name of and they started on their way. Or maybe it was The Offspring. He could never tell the difference, to Dean's major annoyance.

He stared out the back window until Rory and Luke and Stars Hollow was out of sight and on the verge of out of mind before he started to sing along.

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_fin_

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**Okay, so I saw the final episode this week! I wrote this as a tribute of the end of the series. Sorta. I mean, technically it ended a while ago, but whatever. I have to admit, I was expecting Jesse to be there. He has a habit of just showing, I was waiting for them to show him sort of in the background, watching. Now that I actually say it, though, it sounds kinda creepy.**

**I don't own anything you recognize! I also took the segment of Taylor's speech straight out of the episode.**

**I was thinking about putting in some Sam/Dean confusion but decided against it.**

**In case anyone remembers that one scene where Lorelei and Christopher are arguing about Metallica vs The Offspring, I couldn't resist putting that bit in.**

**Please review! Reviews literally make my day and I definitely take suggestions into account.**


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